In the United States alone, millions of men, women and children use drugs, alcohol, or both. Drugs and alcohol are closely related to poor school performance, poor health, work-related stresses, crime and delinquency. Drugs and alcohol have been shown to be prominent factors in exposure to HIV infection--whether through intravenous drug use or unprotected, high-risk sexual relations. Regardless of all the known hazards, the incidence of drug and alcohol use continues to rise in the United States. This book reveals the nature and magnitude of drug and alcohol use in American society, and public opinion on drugs, alcohol, and substance abuse. It examines the illicit drug trade, the war on drugs, and law enforcement. The connection between substance abuse and criminality is addressed, with special studies on prisoners, teenagers, minorities, women, and college campuses. Accompanied by numerous tables and figures.

The American Drug Culture uses sociological and other perspectives to examine drug and alcohol use in U.S. society. The text is arranged topically rather than by drug categories and explores diverse aspects of drug use, including popular culture, sexuality, legal and criminal justice systems, other social institutions, and mental and physical health. It covers alcohol, the most widely used drug in the United States, more extensively than other texts on this subject. The authors include case studies from their own field research that give students empathetic insights into the situations of those suffering from substance and alcohol abuse.

All across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care systems are struggling to cope with substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders. Substance misuse and substance use disorders have devastating effects, disrupt the future plans of too many young people, and all too often, end lives prematurely and tragically. Substance misuse is a major public health challenge and a priority for our nation to address. The effects of substance use are cumulative and costly for our society, placing burdens on workplaces, the health care system, families, states, and communities. The Report discusses opportunities to bring substance use disorder treatment and mainstream health care systems into alignment so that they can address a person's overall health, rather than a substance misuse or a physical health condition alone or in isolation. It also provides suggestions and recommendations for action that everyone-individuals, families, community leaders, law enforcement, health care professionals, policymakers, and researchers-can take to prevent substance misuse and reduce its consequences.

Alcohol is a killerâ€"1 of every 13 deaths in the United States is alcohol-related. In addition, 5 percent of the population consumes 50 percent of the alcohol. The authors take a close look at the problem in a "classy little study," as The Washington Post called this book. The Library Journal states, "...[T]his is one book that addresses solutions....And it's enjoyably readable....This is an excellent review for anyone in the alcoholism prevention business, and good background reading for the interested layperson." The Washington Post agrees: the book "...likely will wind up on the bookshelves of counselors, politicians, judges, medical professionals, and law enforcement officials throughout the country."

Many people have experienced or witnessed situations in which people drinking alcohol get aggressive, obnoxious, and violent. Scientific research has shown evidence of a relationship between alcohol and violence, and even evidence that alcohol plays a role in causing violent and aggressive responses. The book explores a number of aspects of this relationship. If you have been drinking are you more likely to be a victim of crime? If victimized, does drinking alcohol make you more likely to be injured? How does availability of alcohol in the community influence rates of violence among Mexican American youth? Does advertising that links sex and alcohol result in higher rates of sexual assault in Latino neighborhoods? How do elementary school children react to experimentation with drugs, alcohol, and aggression? Do countries outside the United States have alcohol and violence problems, and do these impact men and women differently? We presents original research that shows the depths and conditions under which alcohol and violence are linked, further strengthening the evidence that alcohol use and availability is an important factor in violence in our cities, neighborhoods, school, and homes. The good news is that we regulate alcohol use and availability effectively, with a body of established laws and procedures. We can, therefore, find ways using this existing system to develop new ways to prevent the alcohol related violence studied here. The second half of the book begins this task by laying out the principles of environmental prevention, a strategy that has been very successful in a number of health and safety related domains. The next four chapters show just how environmental prevention strategies have worked, and worked very effectively, to lower rates of violence by reducing alcohol availability and alcohol consumption. The research reported here shows communities different approaches and mechanisms to achieve reductions in violence, and they provide a road map for communities everywhere to follow suit and reduce alcohol related violence. Reducing violence can be accomplished, everyone can do it if they work together, and the result is a safer and better society.

Adolescent alcohol use is prominent among today′s teens and has elicited rising concerns among parents, health practitioners, social policymakers, and the public at large. Yet there is an absence of a relatively concise book that summarizes and integrates existing knowledge on the various facets of adolescent alcohol use. This book attempts to fill this void by integrating research from the multiple fields of study (e.g., prevalence of use), describing measurement approaches (e.g., survey and clinical diagnostic), reviewing risk and protective factors, reporting on findings from prominent prevention and treatment studies, and suggesting future research directions. The coverage is intended to examine issues relevant to etiology, developmental courses, and prevention and treatment, as well as to identify future research directions.

Toxicological Aspects of Drug-Facilitated Crimes provides readers with an overview of the field of DFC: its history, toxicological effects, analysis, interpretation of results, the roles that age, gender and race may play, and clinical presentations of these drugs. The most commonly used drugs in DFC are addressed (alcohol, cannabis, MDMA, and cocaine), as well as an emerging range of pharmaceuticals (benzodiazepines, hypnotics, sedatives, neuroleptics, histamine H1-antagonists, or anesthetics), which are becoming more widely used, but are more difficult to detect. Edited by a world-renowned expert in the field of Forensic and Analytical Toxicology, Pascal Kintz, this book investigates toxicants of emerging concern and brings together a number of experts in the field to address the most recent discoveries on DFC toxicology. - Brings together the latest research on the toxicological analysis of drug-facilitated crimes (DFC), with real-life case studies - Provides up-to-date analytical techniques for determining toxicity levels in blood, urine, and hair - Covers all types of toxicants involved in DFC, including alcohol, cannabis, MDMA, and a wide variety of pharmaceuticals

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

Each year, more than 33 million Americans receive health care for mental or substance-use conditions, or both. Together, mental and substance-use illnesses are the leading cause of death and disability for women, the highest for men ages 15-44, and the second highest for all men. Effective treatments exist, but services are frequently fragmented and, as with general health care, there are barriers that prevent many from receiving these treatments as designed or at all. The consequences of this are seriousâ€"for these individuals and their families; their employers and the workforce; for the nation's economy; as well as the education, welfare, and justice systems. Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions examines the distinctive characteristics of health care for mental and substance-use conditions, including payment, benefit coverage, and regulatory issues, as well as health care organization and delivery issues. This new volume in the Quality Chasm series puts forth an agenda for improving the quality of this care based on this analysis. Patients and their families, primary health care providers, specialty mental health and substance-use treatment providers, health care organizations, health plans, purchasers of group health care, and all involved in health care for mental and substanceâ€"use conditions will benefit from this guide to achieving better care.